Did I make a Bad Decision?

[tomcatguy74]

I bought an Onyx 230 a few weeks ago and had a problem with it and turned it into Hobby Services for warrenty repair. They told me it needed to be replaced but the replacements were out of stock untill the end of September and offered me a Duratrax ICE, Great Planes Triton 2, or a Hobbico Accucycle Elite if I needed a charger now. Well I was in the market for an Emaxx 16.8 and I found one and traded one of my cars for it so I decided to tell Hobby Services to send me a Duratrax Onyx 240 dual charger. Well, I feel like I made a bad decision because I am reading now that most chargers including the ICE which I was thinking of getting can charge 2 batteries at the same time using a Y harness. I want to slow charge these new batteries I have to condition them but this 240 charger does not have a slow charging option.
It does not have many features at all. I just needed a dual charger that would charge my batteries fast and this one out of all the dual chargers I could have gotten from Hobby Services was the one that charged the fastest at 5 amps per battery at the same time. I was restricted to only the chargers that Hobby Services supported so I went with the Onyx 240. My decision was also dependent on the charger having AC AND DC inputs.

SO.......Did I make a bad decision???????:\

 

[alpinehyperlite]

Dont sweat it. I'm sure you will be just fine. One thing i have learned, Dont sweat the small stuff, take what you got, and enjoy it.

 

[CharliesTheMan]

I think you made a great decision. It's much better to charge your batteries using a charger that's designed to charge dual batteries than it is to use the y harness method. IMO, the dual chargers take better care of your batteries, and I would think that they would do a much better job of balancing the cells and be a lot safer. If you don't like that particular charger, the Hobbico Accu-Cycle will also charge two batteries, but I really like an AC/DC charger.

 

[tomcatguy74]

True, however I gave up the possiblity of going Lipo when I decided on the 240. The accucycle will charge 2 at the same time but at a much lower amprage, but it will do lipo. I almost went for it but a guy in my LHS told me he has 10 of them on the shelf and no one has bought one for quite some time because of all the newer more advanced chargers out there.

 

[HeartBreak]

I think you made a great decision. It's much better to charge your batteries using a charger that's designed to charge dual batteries than it is to use the y harness method. IMO, the dual chargers take better care of your batteries, and I would think that they would do a much better job of balancing the cells and be a lot safer. If you don't like that particular charger, the Hobbico Accu-Cycle will also charge two batteries, but I really like an AC/DC charger.

I will second this post; when you charge using a Y harness, one pack could SEVERELY overcharge and the other would be about 95% charged. The result; one six celled firecracker.

Better, and safer, to charge with a charger designed to do two at once.